Inclusive by design: an international choir in the heart of Lisbon

If you walk past Santa Joana auditorium in Areeiro on a Monday evening, there’s a good chance you’ll hear one of two things: singing or laughter.

And more often than not, it’s a healthy serving of both.

These are the rehearsals of Lisbon Community Choir, a 60-strong English-language group that prides itself on its inclusion, interculturalism, and, of course, its singing.

“The thing that I love about this choir it that it’s an open choir,” says Pedro Leitão, an experienced singer who joined the group just after the pandemic.

“Everyone can enter — you don’t need auditions, you don’t need tests. You just need to find your voice and sing.

“It’s very dynamic, it’s very inclusive, and you get to know people from all around the world,” says the Lisbon-born Pedro.

And it really is all around the world — last season, Lisbon Community Choir had members from 38 different countries.

“From the beginning, the choir was very rich in terms of nationalities, and I just continued this approach,” says Alberto Araújo, who’s conducted the group since 2018.

“This very naturally became one of the key aspects of the choir — and it’s one of the aspects that identifies and differentiates us in a way,” he says.

“I really felt the energy of the group right from the beginning”

Alberto Araújo, Choir Conductor

Lisbon Community Choir was founded in 2017 by Rosie Brown, a music teacher from the United Kingdom who was working at a school in Lisbon.

One year later, Rosie returned to the UK, and Alberto took over conducting, having been voted in by the choir themselves.

Alberto was just back from a stint as an Erasmus student at the Kodály Institute of the Liszt Academy of Music in Hungary and was completing his Diploma in Advanced Choral Conducting.

“I really felt the energy of the group right from the beginning,” says Alberto. “When I started working with them, it was really easy, and people were engaging very quickly.”

Nine years later, the energy is still there — and it’s easy to see why.

Each session starts off with a series of playful exercises, helping long-time members get into their groove and new members to feel more welcome.

These include swinging arms, stretching legs, and producing noises that bear more than a passing resemblance to a kazoo.

“I thought we would be singing songs all the time and I would be like, ‘Oh, I can’t sing this,’ but I really liked that Alberto did so many exercises,” says Julian Haibt, an Erasmus student from Germany who’s joining a choir for the first time.

“Since it’s an open choir, a community choir, a lot of people come and a lot of people go, and I have to make the rehearsals fun,” says Alberto.

“I have some exercises and some small songs that people can start singing right away — and from there it gets enjoyable very quickly. That’s how it works.”

Joining while on Erasmus is not uncommon, Alberto explains. The ease of communicating in English and a lack of auditions make it an attractive option for Lisbon’s short-term residents.

The choir also offers an instant community for those new to the city.

“Moving here from abroad, it’s hard to find community, and I thought this [choir] would be a place to do that,” says Georgette Dobkin, a recent arrival in Lisbon from the United States.

“Dropping the boundaries for having to audition made it very welcoming.

“It’s a lot of fun, he’s [Alberto] is a great director —it’s also nice to have a challenge,” Georgette says.

And a challenge it certainly is, because while there may be a focus on fun, that doesn’t mean Lisbon Community Choir don’t take their singing seriously.

The group frequently perform concerts and have sung in the Lisbon Summer Choirs Festival, the OnStage festival, the World Choral Expo, and, most recently, the Festival de Coros.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the choir has maintained a committed group of regulars, which has allowed the community choir to explore more complex and challenging pieces, Alberto explains.

“We are already able to do a couple of very, very difficult songs for amateur choirs,” he says.

But that shouldn’t put you off giving it a go yourself, as a lack of experience doesn’t matter, says Pedro, who attends the choir with his twin brother.

“If you know how to sing, good. If you don’t know how to sing, that’s also good,” he says.

“You get to learn by listening to the conductor and by listening to each other — just come!”

Rehearsals take place on Mondays at 19h30, at Auditório Santa Joana, R. Moura Girão, Lisboa